Bangladesh and India are in discussion to finalise a date in early September for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi, says Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.
While talking to reporters at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday evening, Momen said the Bangladesh side conveyed that September first week and or a date in the first 10 days of September would be convenient.
The foreign minister, however, said the date will be finalised soon through discussion so that the visit can take place before the beginning of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
The 77th session of the UNGA will open on Tuesday, 13 September 2022.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already extended an invitation to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit India in 2022 in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
The two countries witnessed momentum in their relations last year with a series of engagements including high-level visits.
At the invitation of President Abdul Hamid, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind paid a State visit to Bangladesh from December 15 to 17 last year to attend the 50th Victory Day celebrations here as the guest of honour.
It was the Indian President’s maiden visit to Bangladesh and also his first visit overseas since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier, Modi paid a landmark visit to Bangladesh on March 26 and 27 last year and those visits were of “historical significance” given the 50th anniversary of the shared sacrifices of the people of the two countries during Bangladesh’s struggle for Liberation in 1971.
At the seventh round of the Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting held in New Delhi on Sunday, Bangladesh and India agreed to work closely together to further deepen and strengthen cooperation in the areas of common rivers and water resources management.
The two countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the areas of IT and cyber security, renewable energy, agriculture and food security, sustainable trade, climate change and disaster management.
The JCC was co-chaired by Foreign Minister Momen and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
Both sides reiterated the importance of safe, speedy and sustainable return of the forcibly displaced persons from the Rakhine State of Myanmar, currently being sheltered by Bangladesh, according to the joint media release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.
